'Thick' pilot a write-in at ABC

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The network has given a pilot order to a half-hour comedy from "Arrested Development" alums Richard Day and Mitchell Hurwitz, Sony Pictures Television and BBC Worldwide Prods. (HR 10/27).

The series will be adapted from the BBC 4 comedy. The project was shopped late last month to each of the major broadcast networks before settling at ABC.

The U.K. version of "Thick" centers on a put-upon member of Parliament who is harassed by inept bureaucrats. The ABC adaptation will focus on the nonpartisan high jinks that ensue in the office of a member of Congress. The British series has had exposure in the U.S. through airings on BBC America.

Day will pen the pilot script and executive produce along with Hurwitz, Paul Telegdy of BBC Worldwide and Armando Iannucci, creator of the original series. Day's TV credits, in addition to the Emmy-winning "Development" created by Hurwitz, include NBC's "Good Morning Miami" and HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show."